US Dept of Defense to shift 4 million devices onto Windows 10

Slabs, laptops and phones to get Microsoft's latest OS within a year

The US Secretary of Defense has ordered all Department of Defense (DoD) agencies to shift four million Microsoft-based devices onto Windows 10 over the next year.

The department said it will install Windows 10 on millions of computers, tablets and handsets by February 2017, according to a blog post by Yusuf Mehdi, corporate Veep of Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group.

Mehdi claimed: "This is an unprecedented move for the DoD and the largest enterprise deployment of Windows 10 to date."

According to Mehdi, the DoD spends approximately $44bn annually on cybersecurity and IT.

The department is clearly keen to shove its personnel onto the Microsoft OS as soon as possible.

Terry Halvorsen, CIO for the DoD, issued a memo to combatant commands, services agencies and field activities late last year "to rapidly transition to Microsoft Windows 10 in order to improve our cyber security posture, lower the cost of IT, and streamline the IT operating environment."

Back in 2008 the department inked a three-year enterprise license agreement with Microsoft worth $617m, giving its two-million-plus civilian and military staff access to Windows 8, Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013. ®